Detection of fraud in mobile telecommunications

Under the CEC’s ACTS’programme, the collaborative R&D project ASPeCT2 was set up to look at the problems and possible solutions for security in future mobile telecommunications systems to follow on from GSM. The project consortium consisted of Network Operators (Vodafone, Panafon), equipment suppliers (Siemens ATEA, Siemens AG, Giesecke and Devrient) and academic institutions (Royal Holloway, University of London and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven). While the greater part of the project focused on protection of the communication between users-mainly related to cryptographic mechanisms and services-a substantial section addressed the problems of fraud and abuse of the networks, looking at possible tools for detection and management, but also examining the legal implications.